Even after playing for several years as an adult, I'm still surprised how much more power I get on my shot just moving to a Drury. Literally everything else I've tried reduces my shot power and introduces more flutter into the shot, while the Drury puts the puck Frisbee-flat. Sometimes I wonder about having kids learn to shoot with flatter or closed blades if an open wedge is so highly preferred by college and pro players...maybe learning to control the wedge at a young age would be better.
But the old-school coach Howie Meeker used to preach that kids under 12 shouldn't even worry about shooting the puck because they lack the strength. He used to say he wouldn't teach a kid to shoot a wrist shot until he could do 20 pushups on his fingertips, because you'd be able to stop that shot with your bare hands otherwise. He stressed skating, skating, skating, followed by puck control and passing. He didn't want the kids to worry about systems either, just have fun, improve your skills, and play as much as you can. I'd follow that same mindset with my kid, although he's too young to do anything other than bat a ball around with a plastic stick right now.
Anyways, I think the general idea behind having a kid learning to play with a flatter blade is to emphasize development of his passing and puck control game compared to his shooting. Now I haven't watched a ton of kids but I've never seen a kid under 13-14 who had a good strong shot. They just don't have the strength. But I've seen kids as young as 5 who can skate like the wind and handle a puck pretty well. I'd worry a lot more about that than I would his shooting.
